Battlefield Wiki:What is Battlefield Wiki
Battlefield Wiki is many things. This page lists what Battlefield Wiki is and is not. Battlefield Wiki is... '...a wiki' At its heart, a wiki is a website that allows the collaborative creation and editing of free content. 'Wiki' is a Hawaiian word meaning 'fast' or 'quick'. Originally pioneered by Wikipedia, the MediaWiki software now powers thousands of wiki's here on Wikia, and many more independent wikis. '...an encyclopedia' While a wiki's functionality has a range of uses, the vast majority of Wiki's are essentially encyclopedias, like Battlefield Wiki. All content in our article space should be encyclopedic in nature - hence our policies require articles to be accurate, well written, comprehensive and non-biased. Furthermore, Battlefield Wiki is not a social network and it is not a blog. It is an encyclopedia. Community activities and interaction, the Wikia chat facility and our capacity to host blogs are all permitted, but should never detract from our encyclopedia-building purpose. '...about Battlefield' All of our articles must be focused on the Battlefield series - we are an encyclopedia covering everything about the Battlefield games, and nothing else. All other activities that aren't related to either Battlefield or our community should be kept inside personal user-spaces, and kept at a minimum. '...democratic' Almost all decisions on the wiki are determined by consensus amongst community members. Many such decisions are put to votes for final approval. The only decisions taken without reaching consensus and/or voting are those needed to comply with Wikia's terms and the law. '...a community project' Furthermore, the site and it's community is self-governing. There is no 'owner' and there are no 'leaders'. The site belongs to the community. As such, it is up to the community to collectively and collaboratively regulate the site. Battlefield Wiki is not... '...always correct' With the ability to edit content, there will always be times when people will change the content of a page to be incorrect, or when content will simply be allowed to slip out of date. However, the brilliant thing about a wiki is that anyone can correct this. '...a crystal ball' The Battlefield Wiki cannot, and must not, predict the future. Articles are not the place for speculation of any kind. Only confirmed and verified information can be discussed in articles. '...official' This site is 100% fan-maintained. Everyone here is just a fan. No one here works for any of the gaming companies, and we are certainly not endorsed by any official company. '...Wikipedia' Even though the formats of this site and Wikipedia are similar (both use MediaWiki software), neither Battlefield Wiki nor Wikia are officially connected to, or owned by, Wikipedia or the Wikimedia foundation. Wikia started out as a commercial-spin off from the non-profit Wikimedia foundation, which runs sites like Wikipedia. Today they are entirely separate and officially unconnected companies. Wikipedia content should not be copied directly into our articles. Write your own content rather than copy someone else's. Furthermore, any links to Wikipedia should be restricted to the external links section of articles. Wikipedia should never be linked to in-text in articles. '...other wikis' This wiki has its own policies, administrative team, and goals -- regardless of how similar this wiki might be to another, the number of common users, or how similar their content might be. It is implicit that when one joins this wiki, they will observe and respect our rules. On the other hand, if a user on this wiki joins another, we expect them to show that other wiki the same kindness. '...the place to continue disputes, and not the place for drama' Along a similar tangent to the above section, this wiki is not one's backup for continuing disputes/inciting drama. Whatever a user does on another wiki, we expect it to stay there. Do not attempt to instigate, drum up support, nor come here with the intention of starting further drama. Wikis are not teams, they are not 'nations'; there is no competition between wikis. Any personal qualms are purely personal, and have no bearing on the operation of this wiki or its administrators. If one attempts to stir up a fight between another wiki and this one, we will not be complicit in it, and we will punish offending users. W